Saturday, July 01, 2006

Demon Princess doesn't know whether to laugh (stupid electioneering stunt) or cry (those rabid Republicons might succeed, after all), but this is the most dismal news for a so-called free country that I think I've ever seen, in my lifetime, anyway--which does extend over the term of the second worst President in American history--Richard Nixon, another paranoid fear-&-war-proselytizer.

However, even Nixon didn't dare take his war on the free press public.

Today's news is that Republicons have floated a bill & resolution that would ban the New York Times (& other members of a "treasonous" liberal media who refuse to get the message) from the press corps which reports on Congress's doings. (Title bar to read further).

Demon Princess only wishes she was making it up, as with so many other things that were, & are, unfortunately, true.

Alright: who in the audience can tell me what's wrong with this picture? Even if we don't exactly pay attention to all the bullshit & hubris emanating from those quarters these days, it's another matter to have our own Congress presuming to legislate what sources we can & cannot hear it from. (Hint: dictatorship.)

(And an interesting sidenote & double-whammy: they don't want to hear us bitching about it, via e-mail from non-profit activist organizations, both right & left, anyway, so they've made moves to block constituent access to them that way. )

Elsewhere in this blog I've already addressed what is so wrong with the Republicons' misguided attacks on the New York Times. About the NYT's editor's response to critics charging that he irresponsibly & unpatriotically reported on the Swift spying program:

"He goes on to recap the fact that numerous spying programs have been put in place since 911 without public knowledge, and we citizens can't very well participate in a debate knowledgeably--nor can Congress, as our elected representatives, if those programs are so secret no one knows they exist. And that's a recipe for totalitarianism.

"He also points out, too mildly, that it's not as if Bushco themselves didn't broadcast the bank-spying program themselves, long ago (!)--so what are they bitching about so loudly, if that's the case, Demon Princess wants to know?

"What they're screaming their heads off about, good Americans, is not that the NYT printed something they already hadn't told the terrorists themselves, but the fact that the spying has been conducted without any sort of oversight at all. That's what they don't want you to know about.

"The reason they're shouting so loudly & belligerently is to convince you it's all for your own good.

"Oh, that & the fact that there are elections coming up which may turn the tide against them, & they're counting on winning again based on the exaggerated threats posed by the War on Terror.."

And, oh, by the way, I believe it was the WaPo that recently reported that domestic sying programs we didn't previously know about have been in place since before 911.

4 Comments:

Yeah, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times both covered that story too but for some reason the bushies have selected NYT to be the scapegoat. I even heard that one of gov. departments, treasury I think it was, gave out a press statement on the issue just to make sure the facts were straight. Hard to believe the New Whore Times is being attacked now by the very same bunch they helped legitimize, but when you consider it, that is the way of organized crime. Ultimately they have no allies and they'll kill each other if it becomes profitably expedient.On the subject of yellow journalism, there was a "fluff" piece in the San Diego Union recently about troops stationed near Ramadi and it was all about how tough the troops have it and how fucked up the city is. A real tearjerker. But it said nothing of the assault that is currently underway there right now, or the thousands of civilians trapped with no electricity, plumbing, medicine or food.

Great rejoinder, Paul. However, as with training animals, I try to reward the positive behavior & ignore the negative.

At least let it be said that the NYT has realized the error in promoting the lunatic war in the 1st place.

After all, the evil brilliance of the Bushcon Admin. was to see that Americans in general are so preoccupied elsewhere (bread & circus) that they stopped paying any very keen attention to what their government is doing, & they've capitalized on it 2 ways: overly simplistic framing of complex issues by appealing to the basest of human instincts, & loud & blaring propaganda to reverse the trend whenever they get caught doing things that are antithetical to democratic self-government.

The VERY first baby steps into righting the balance is for the press to take seriously again its role as the "4th estate," which keeps government honest ~ well, as honest as possible ~

About Me

Former PoliSci major (still rabid), graduate of a "national" law school, former child prodigy in the literary arts (enjoyment of which law school wrecked entirely, but I hope to make up for lost time now)